Hermione gasped in shock as he pulled her close. Momentarily paralyzed by surprise, she did not attempt to push him away. He was breathing quickly, and she gazed up at him, her eyes locking on his. She caught a glimpse of a smug look in his eyes, but she had no time to ponder what it could mean because he pressed his lips against hers.

Hermione's initial reaction was to break the kiss and shove him away. She struggled to push him away but his grip on her waist tightened when she tried. The fight to pull her lips away from his was also in vain. Hermione reluctantly gave up.

Malfoy's other hand came up to rest on the back of her neck. She shivered at his touch. He seemed to be pouring effort into kissing her before he had to surface for air. He was kissing her passionately, angrily.

Malfoy wasn't a gentle kisser, Hermione mused. No, this kiss was rough, attempting to cause her pain as well as scaring her. The whole purpose of the kiss, Hermione realized, was to embarrass her, ruin her. To get her back. Gryffindor kissing a Slytherin, forbidden. It would never work, because she wasn't going to fall for his little plot. Like hell she'd allow him to embarrass her. 'I'll turn the tables on him just like I did before!'

Hermione wrapped her arms around him, pulling him, if it was even possible, closer. Malfoy gasped in surprise. And hesitantly, she kissed him back.

All at once she became aware of how close they actually were, how he smelled of some unnamable but somehow familiar scent, how his grey eyes were staring at her startled, how warm his embrace was . All of this might turn any girls head, cause them to lose themselves in the warmth of a day dream.

But Hermione wasn't just any girl, and it only served to remind her just how much she hated him. But she had to kiss him back, if she wanted to gain the upper hand.

Malfoy had almost reached his goal, she had almost given in. He had been ready to break the kiss and then remind everyone that perfect Hermione Granger had succumbed to Draco Malfoy's charm. He'd ruin her, and oh would he savor it. With this stunt he could put the annoying purple newspaper out of his mind. He could put Granger out of his mind, for once and for all he would gain the ultimate power: power over Hermione Granger.

But she had had to nerve to kiss him back! 'That was not supposed to happen! And now, look at her, kissing me back like she actually thinks she's going to beat me at my own game for the second time today!'

Hermione looked into Malfoy's eyes, pleased. He seemed to be having some sort of inner conflict. His eyes focused on her. They shone with determination. Hermione was taken aback.

All at once the kiss became a power struggle. Malfoy, who had surfaced for three seconds of air, kissed her with a renewed, brutal passion. Hermione, who refused to be the first to break away, did the same to him.

"MOVE!" said a distant voice as he grabbed Malfoy and threw him bodily against the back wall. He pushed Hermione to the front wall, separating them. Hermione and Malfoy were jolted out of their daze.

"I have never seen anything as disgusting as your little make-out session, Malfoy and Granger!" Snape yelled, his face tinged green. Hermione's face burned as she looked at Malfoy's disheveled appearance- his tie loose, hair messed up, shirt wrinkled and his lips rather swollen and pink. She could only imagine how awful she looked. He stared back at her looking her up and down and smiling smugly. She rolled her eyes at him. He glared at her.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Malfoy?" asked Snape.

"Well," he said, standing up with some effort and attempting to fix his hair, "I'm pretty sure Granger enjoyed that, didn't you Granger?" He gave her a sly smile. Only Hermione seemed to notice that the smile was a promise to deal with this later.

"I enjoyed it? Me? You're the one who kissed me first!" She said incredulously. She walked closer to him. "This is obviously proof that what was said in the newspaper was true! You do like me!"

Malfoy laughed. 'An obvious attempt to discredit me and regain her status. She knows just as well as I do that everything the paper said was a lie.' Granger, this isn't about me-it's about you."

"What the hell do you mean, it is so about you!"

"No, it's not." Malfoy said firmly.

"You're making no sense!" said Hermione, frustrated.

"Granger, I hate you."

She gave him a dirty look. "I hate you too. But you kissed me!"

"Yes, I did. And you know why."

"THIS HAS GONE FAR ENOUGH!" Shouted Snape. Everyone stopped talking. Suddenly Snape was back to himself. Hermione backed away from him. "Everyone is dismissed except for you two!"

"I'll MURDER him!" Ron yelled, jumping at Malfoy and knocking him down. Hermione jumped back, for once not bothering to hold Ron back. The bastard deserved it. Harry stood beside her, looking on with satisfaction.

Malfoy looked at him, unfazed.

"Jealous, Weasley? Granger is quite a good kisser, don't you agree? Oh wait, you wouldn't know, now would you?" Malfoy taunted. Ron growled and brought back his fist to punch Malfoy in the face. It never connected. Snape had calmly caught his fist.

"All four of you have detention for 2 weeks," Snape said as he pulled Ron off Malfoy and threw him on the floor.

"Ow!" Ron said as he fell back onto the hard stone floor.

"All four of us?" asked Harry angrily. "What did I do?"

Snape looked at him smugly. "You were breathing."

Harry grumbled under his breath about how much Snape sucked.

"8:00 this Saturday, this room. Leave now or I won't be responsible for my actions."

They all rushed out of the room. Harry and Ron made for the common room, but not before giving Malfoy a look of pure hatred and told him to go do something that, had Snape heard, would have given them 3 extra weeks of detention. Ron cracked his knuckles threateningly but Malfoy merely laughed and strode off, readjusting his tie and hair as he went. Hermione hurried off in the opposite direction without stopping to talk to Harry and Ron or Malfoy.